Wednesday, September 26, 2012

National
Cyber Security Awareness Month is one initiative that is part of a
non-profit public-private partnership focused on cyber security
awareness and education for all digital citizens. Because the cyberspace
used by our faculty, staff, and students often transports sensitive
information such as proprietary research, financial records, grades, or
personally identifiable information, it has become critical that all
members of the Macalester community develop an awareness of how to
protect this sensitive information and be safer and more secure online.This
year’s theme, Our Shared Responsibility, reflects the notion that no
one person, department, or college is responsible for the security of
the Internet; everyone must do their part. Be looking throughout the
month under this banner in the Daily Piper for tips on how to do this.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Between now and September 28, you may notice a brief interruption to
your phone service. To protect your phone from lightning strikes, we are updating the electrical grounding on our voice cables, and this work will cause a brief outage to each individual
telephone. This work will begin each weekday at 6:00 AM and continue
until 2:00 PM. It is very possible that you won't even notice your
phone's outage. Any incoming calls while your phone is out of service
will go directly to your voice mailbox.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Sometime soon, all Macalester Google Apps users will be automatically switched to Google Drive. If you have not already transitioned to Google Drive, go ahead and make the switch. If you need assistance with the transition, email the ITS Help Desk at helpdesk@macalester.edu or visit Google Drive Help.

Make the switch from Docs to Drive

Go to your Google Documents.

Click Find out more and get started.

When the Google Drive window appears, click Go to Google Drive.

Your files will now be stored in Google Drive. Just like before, you can upload, edit, share, and create files online.

What's the same

If you've used Google Docs, some things in Google Drive will be familiar.

Hey there, young alumni! Your Macalester accounts, including Google Apps, 1600grand, Moodle, etc., will be closed as of Monday, September 17, 2012.
It can take up to a week or more to migrate all your data, so don't put it off any longer!

Also, don’t forget to check out the Macalester Graduates Techlist, brought to you by ITS. This checklist has helpful tips on
ways to save, transfer, back up, and liberate all of your valuable
Macalester data while you still can.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Macalester's primary file server - your G:, H: and M: drives - will get a
resource upgrade early tomorrow morning, Thursday September 6. This
upgrade requires a reboot. Starting at 5:30 AM, the server will be
inaccessible for approximately fifteen minutes. All other campus IT
resources should remain up and running normally. All drives should be
available again after 5:45 AM. Please plan to log out before 5:30
tomorrow morning. If you experience problems after this reboot, please
try logging in again or call the ITS Help Desk at 696-6525.

Please be aware that owners of copyrighted materials such as
movies, music and software are increasingly aggressive about finding and
prosecuting people who illegally download such materials. Macalester ITS respects your privacy, and we do not monitor the content of your
electronic data. However, when we receive legal notice of copyright
violations, we are obliged to comply with the law. If we receive such a
notice and we find that your account contains material in violation of
copyright laws, you will lose network access privileges until the
offending material is removed. Since Fall
semester has just begun, you may not have taken the time to familiarize yourself with
your responsibilities regarding copyright and potential violations.
Please do so now. ITS is receiving an increasing number of official
communications from copyright holders alleging violations.